Abstract

In this work, a numerical estimation of the unsaturated physical soil hydrodynamic parameters is proposed. The mass transfer of water in the unsaturated porous media is described by the Richards model, which represents a combination of the Darcy law and the mass conservation equation. The control of the solution of the Richards equation is nonlinear and very sensitive to the knowledge of the Van Genuchten parameters {ks, ?s, ?r, n and ?}.The purpose of this study is to estimate these parameters from measurements of water content obtained at different depths of soil in the M'nasra area (north-west of Morocco). The obtained results are compared with those of the literature that refer to the study zone. A good agreement is observed between the estimated and measurement data.